The AMD Ryzen All In One Thread/Overclocking/Memory Speeds & Timings/Tweaking/Cooling

AMD has officially launched today the new AMD Ryzen AM4 Platform with a top to bottom line of brand new CPUs alongside AM4 Motherboards using the new chipsets X370 , B350 and A320 with wide availability from partners , hence there will be a need for information on how to properly Tweak / Overclock / Cool your brand new Ryzen platform. Well , you have come to the right place !

I will be updating and posting more information as we get it , New Bios , Motherboards , DDR4 Memory Compatibility / Tweaking / Speeds and Timings guide. Cooling options compatibility - Air Cooling / AIO Water Cooling / Custom Water Cooling CPU Blocks.

Also an extensive overclocking guide will be written by me. Want to Overclock you brand new Ryzen CPU and DDR4 Memory ? Follow the guides posted below.

** Disclaimer ** : " The information here provided is intended to be used as a guide into AMD Ryzen CPUs and Memory overclocking , as such use it at your own risk and solely discretion. In no way , shape or form shall I or Guru3D be held liable or accounted for , any malfunction or damage as a result of using any of this information."

Overclocking - Is the action of increasing a component's clock rate, running it at a higher speed than it was designed to run.Core frequency - Is the speeds in Mhz ( megahertz ) or Ghz ( gigahertz ) your cpu is running , example an R7 x1800 runs at 3600Mhz or 3.6Ghz.BCLK - Base Clock , for Ryzen CPUs default is 100Mhz.CPU Multiplier - Is the number that when multiplied by the BCLK will give you the final speeds on your cpu , example an R7 x1800 36x100 = 3.6Ghz.Boost Clock - Is the maximum clocks your cpu can boost depending on the cooling , example an R7 x1800 3.6Ghz can Boost up to 4.1Ghz cooling dependant and thanks to the new XFR ( Extended Frequency Range ).XFR - Extended Frequency Range.Memory Frequency - Is the frequency of your RAM ( random access memory ) - For a RAM that runs at DDR4 3200MHz, this clock will run at DDR4 1600MHz, and the data will be transferred at both posedge and negedge (hence DDR: double data rate, two bits per clock cycle).Default Memory Speed - In Ryzen CPUs the default memory speeds is 2133Mhz.Memory Ratio / Dividers - In Ryzen CPUs up to DDR4 4000Mhz motherboard and Bios dependant , it might be higher on different motherboards and or different Bios version.CPU Core Voltage/V. Core - Is the power supply voltage supplied to the CPU , example R7 x1800 runninng at 3.6Ghz with a Core Voltage of 1.32vDRAM Voltage - Is the power supply voltage supplied to the Ram Modules , example DDR4-3200Mhz at DRAM Voltage of 1.35v.

*Important Notes*
North bridge frequency it's tied to the memory frequency and infinity data fabric.
AMD Maximum Recommended CPU v.Core is 1.35v but you can try higher dependant on your cooling solution , on high end Air Cooling stay at 1.35v or below , on AIO Water Cooling stay at 1.40v or below and on High End Custom Water Cooling stay below 1.45v.
This CPUs run warm , bare in mind and remember that you are runnning 8 cores and 16 treads , so do not be surprise if your temperatures are a little higher than normal 4 cores cpus , 6 cores cpus and older 8 core AMD cpus. Ryzen can cope very well with higher temperatures , it's just the nature of the beast !
Ryzen CPUs won't throttle until you hit 95c and maximum safe temperatures as per AMD is 95c , as you can see they are designed to take the heat.
I do not recommend using prime 95 as a stability stress test , it is an unreal scenario for CPU usage and might kill your motherboard and cpu at 100% usage on the stress test , instead use Aida 64 , Cinebench R15 , wPrime and your favorite games or programs.
Do not try to delid the ihs ( Integrated Heat Spreader ) from the cpu , AMD did a great job with this CPUs and it is soldered.

The time seems right to start this overclocking guide as many motherboard vendors have updated their Bios and things are getting normalized and stable under the Ryzen R7 CPUs and AM4 ecosystem. If you have not updated your motherboard Bios please do so now. We will aim for a quick 4000Mhz cpu overclock at 1.35v cpu v.core and 75C or less for temperatures under load. This guide is based on stock Bios settings and all overclocking will be done inside windows in real time.

On this guide i will focus solely in overclocking your cpu using AMD Ryzen Master Utility for Overclocking Control. This utility based on my own testing , hands on experience and findings works very well and it is recommended for those motherboards that lack overclocking features in the Bios and/or for a quick set and forget overclock and recommended for testing purposes. Please do read AMD white papers on AMD Ryzen Processor and AMD Ryzen Master Over-clocking User’s Guide here: https://www.amd.com/system/files/20...AMD-Ryzen-Master-Overclocking-Users-Guide.pdf

I have thoroughly tested , overclocked , binned , benchmarked and tweaked 3 Ryzen CPUs so far for the last 16 days non stop every day , countless hours to gain the knowledge inside and out of this platform ( 2x R7 1700x and 1x R7 1700 CPUs ) on 4 Motherboards - 2x Asus Crosshair Vl Hero ( See post # 166 on this thread " I have just finish my first of two Ryzen builts " - post # 199 on this thread - " Well my board committed suicide today " and post # 522 on this thread - " Well , this are my 24/7 stable settings " ). 1x BIOSTAR X370GT5 ( See post # 220 on this thread - "As for the other built i was doing with the BIOSTAR X370GT5 , the board it's not good at all " ) and 1x ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 ( See post # 357 on this thread - " ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 Overclocking Report and Findings " ) as well i have thoroughly tested and successfully overclocked 2 different DDR4 memory kits , 1x based on Samsung B-die 2x8GB kit single sided ( Single Rank ) : G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) , Model F4-3200C15D-16GVR and 1x based on SK Hynix dual sided ( Dual Rank ) : ADATA XPG Z1 16GB (2 x 8GB) , Model AX4U2800W8G17-DRZ. You can see my overclocking results and progress daily for reference purposes here at hwbot under my profile - http://hwbot.org/user/chispy/ . Let us begin:

Now that you have downloaded and installed the software let's begin by explaining how to use AMD Ryzen Master Utility for Overclocking Control:

1. Open up the utility and you will be welcomed with a Warning message , read it and if you agree with it click OK. If you have HPET disable ( High Precision Event Timer ) it will ask you to enable it , follow the easy instructions given by the program to enable HPET. Now you can click OK and have access to all the features on the program.

2. Take a look at all the features and settings and feel free to explore the complete set of features this handy software provides ( CPU Core Speed - adjust accordingly via multiplier for overclocking , Temperature Monitor , Ram Timings ( May or may not be adjustable as it is Motherboard and Bios dependant ) , Adjust All Voltages , Disable/Enable Cores )

3. Overclocking the CPU - Start by pressing profile 1 at the bottom of the program ( 1 ) to open up all the options needed for overclocking. A good start for v.core is 1.35v for all Ryzen 7 CPUs 1700 , 1700x and 1800x.

Up the CPU Voltage to 1.35v using the up and down keys ( 2 ) and hit apply at the top right corner of the program ( 3 ) , it will tell you: ( Profile 1 apply: Success ). Next , a good start for cpu overclock is 3800Mhz , go ahead and move the yellow bars slider or the up and down arrows on the cores to 3800Mhz ( 4 ) and hit apply ( 3 ) .

Now exit the program pressing the X at the top right corner ( 5 ) and open up cpu-z to verify the overclock , it should be around 3800Mhz. Close cpu-z and open up HWinFO and verify you core clocks , v.core and temperatures , leave it open so that we can monitor those values.

Now open cinebench R15 and run the program. If it pass cinebench R15 you are stable and in good shape , close cinebench R15. To verify stability open up wPrime by right clicking on the icon and Run as administrator. Once the program is open select Set Thread Count and change it from thread count 4 to 16 and hit OK. Now Run 1024M , if you finished the whole run successfully congratulations you have overclocked your cpu to 3800Mhz , pending cpu temperatures and good cooling of course.

Now we will try to aim for 3900Mhz at the same voltage of 1.35v v.core. Close wPrime 2.10 and leave HWiNFO open , open AMD Ryzen Master Utility for Overclocking Control again and press profile 1 , move the yellow bars slider to 3900Mhz or use the up and down arrows and hit apply , exit the program and verify in cpu-z and HWiNFO your new overclock of 3900Mhz , close cpu-z and leave HWiNFO open.

Now open cinebench R15 and run the program. If it pass cinebench R15 you are stable and in good shape , close cinebench R15. To verify stability open up wPrime by right clicking on the icon and Run as administrator. Once the program is open select Set Thread Count and change it from thread count 4 to 16 and hit OK. Now Run 1024M , if you finished the whole run successfully congratulations you have overclocked your cpu to 3900Mhz , pending cpu temperatures and good cooling of course.

Every cpu it's different due to the silicon lottery , some will do 4000Mhz stable at 1.35v v.core and some won't. If you are happy with 3900Mhz overclock pending temperatures and good cooling let it be , R7 CPUs at 3900Mhz 16 threads active are very , very fast !

Now remember you already have a profile saved on AMD Ryzen Master Utility for Overclocking Control profile 1 , all you have to do it's apply that profile in windows and you are good to go as this will not be a permanent overclock , it will revert back to stock settings if it crashes and or every time you reboot.

If you have good cooling , feeling confident and adventurous you can retry the 4000Mhz overclock but this time adding .05 volts incrementally to the cpu ( 1.40v , 1.45v ). From 3900Mhz forward it gets a bit tricky due to the nature of the Ryzen R7 silicon and you are looking at roughly 100Mhz overclock x .10 volts in v.core , a good example is my R7 1700 it's not stable at 4000Mhz at 1.35v. v.core but it is stable at 1.45v and so on , at 4100Mhz it needs 1.55v to be kind of stable but temperatures skyrocket way too high for my likings and way out of my comfort zone , ( reminder ) 1.55v it is not recommended for 24/7 operations , also 2 out of 3 times it would crash on cinebench R15 or wPrime 1024M test.

On this cpu sample R7 1700 the wall seems to be at 4000Mhz 1.45v v.core on water cooling , i could go higher to 4100Mhz and 1.55v but not stable for 24/7 operation ( Not recommended ).

The silicon lottery it's at play here , bare in mind that AMD already pre-binned this CPUs based on voltage linearly scaling already before leaving the factory. R7 1800x and R7 1700x been their best binned high leakage cpus will have the best chance to hit 4000Mhz ~ 4100Mhz while the R7 1700 cpus are the lowest binned low leakage and it is most likely to end up at 3900Mhz ~ 4000Mhz realistically speaking.

Bare in mind there are a few exceptions here and there Gem R7 1700 CPUs floating around that can do 4100Mhz+ so you never know if you get lucky and hit the jackpot with a gem cpu . But based on my own experience and findings that is what you can expect out of Ryzen 7 CPUs. Do your own testing if you deemed necessary with more finesse with smaller steps in v.core and cpu multiplier , as this guide it is intended to give you a starting point into overclocking using the AMD Ryzen Master Utility for Overclocking Control. I hope you find this guide useful and use it as a reference for your own findings and testing. Please do share your findings , experiences and overclock on this thread. It's a learning process due to the completely new architecture. It takes time , lots of testing , trial and errors and finesse to find your maximum stable overclock for 24/7 with all dialed in including memory , but at the end it is all worth it and a very rewarding experience !

On this topic we will discuss the best memory configurations for memory overclocking on the Ryzen AM4 platform. Speeds , Cas Latencies , Voltages , Tweaking and Tricks

Based on my own hands on testing using one Samsung B-die Single Rank memory kit G.SKILL F4-3200C15D-16GVR and one kit of SK Hynix Dual Rank memory ADATA AX4U2800W8G17-DRZ here are my findings and recommendations:

Let's start with the good news first. In order to get the highest Mhz with tight timings it is highly recommended to use a memory kit based on Samsung B-die single rank 2x8Gb memory configuration. It is in fact the only memory configuration at the time of this writing that will let you run up to DDR4-3200Mhz + with very tight latencies in most motherboards ( Bios Dependent ).

If you have one , owned or are pairing such kit of memory with your Ryzen cpu let us begin the memory overclocking guide strictly focus on Samsung B-die single rank 2x8Gb kit.

Currently most motherboard bios are work in progress but it seems that we are ready to start taking advantage of the memory you have and get the most out of it. If you have not updated your motherboard bios to the latest one please do so now.

( 1 ) Let's start by going into your Bios and look for the memory frequency tab where you can actually change your memory speeds and select 3200Mhz like on the picture below ( Might be named different on other motherboards , look for that option on your motherboard Bios ) , i'm using as reference my Asus CH 6 Hero:

( 3 ) Once you open up that tab there should be the options to change your memory primary timings ( Cas Latency - Ras to Cas Read Delay - Rad to Cas Write Delay - Ras Pre Time - Ras Act Time ) , change them to 14-14-14-34 , see the example picture below:

( 4 ) Go to Bios DRAM voltage tab where you can change the memory voltage on your motherboard and select 1.40v , see the example picture below:

( 5 ) Go to your motherboard Bios and find your DRAM VBoot Voltage and set the same voltage that you used for your DRAM voltage 1.40v ( Motherboard and Bios dependent ) , see the example picture below:

Save those settings and reboot , you should be able to run DDR4-3200Mhz Cas 14 at those settings , boot into windows and enjoy the bump in performance , remember that the north bridge it's tied to the memory frequency and infinity data fabric and we are in fact overclocking all of them at the same time , memory , infinity data fabric and north bridge. If it does not boot immediately , let it run thru memory training a few times and retry again. You should run some kind of memory intensive program to test for stability like SuperPI 32m , Aidax64 and or your favorite games and / or software.

Use this memory overclocking guide as reference , you might need to adjust voltages and / or timings and Ram speeds based on your hardware , motherboard and bios. If DDR4-3200Mhz do not work on your hardware configuration try the next step below in memory frequency 2933Mhz and / or loose timings to 15-15-15-34 and so on ... Good luck with your memory overclocking adventures and please post your findings on this thread.

The not so good news i left it for the last part of this overclocking guide. Memory based on SK Hynix Dual Rank memory will not overclock pass DDR4-2666Mhz even with very loose timings and lots of voltage at the time of this writing. There seems to be a compatibility issue at this moment in time with Dual Rank memory and motherboard Bios , mainly subtiming adjustments , secondary , tertiary timings and other loose ends and kinks that AMD needs to figure out. As per my own hands on testing and findings this is what i found out: Your maximum overclock on SK Hynix Dual Rank memory 2x8GB kit will end up at 2666Mhz Cas 18. Hynix memory do not like a lot of latency , timing , voltages and tweaking changes.

I have tried many combinations on my Hynix ram for testing purposes. The best i can do is 2666 at 18-18-18-36 2T. I have left Cas alone at 18 as anything lower does not work at all. I cannot get any subtimings changed , as soon as i start to do baby steps starting to tight latencies it's a no go for my ram. Tried 18-17-18-36 did not boot , it hangs. tried 18-18-17-36 same , 18-17-17-36 same and so on ... Tested for 3 days and many hours and it is what it is.

I have talked with other extreme overclockers running some tests on SK Hynix Dual Rank memory to share our findings and even with Elmor R&D from Asus about this issue and we all came to the same conclusion. SK Hynix Dual Rank memory will not overclock well and compatibility it's very limited at this point in time. In fact i was extremely lucky that my memory kit SK Hynix Dual Rank memory ADATA AX4U2800W8G17-DRZ even posted on my motherboard.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel , and we might have to wait a little longer for a solution from AMD. As you know this is work in progress and with new Agesa microcodes and new Bios updates it might get better , it will take a while but hopefully we will get there.

If you have one , owned or are pairing such kit of memory with your Ryzen cpu let us begin the memory overclocking guide strictly focus on SK Hynix Dual Rank memory. This will be a very short overclocking guide as there is really nothing exciting to talk about:

If you are lucky and your SK Hynix Dual Rank memory kit posted and you were able to boot and enter windows we might be able to do a little bit of tweaking for higher DDR4 Speeds at loose timings as it will always post at default 2133Mhz with loose timings.

( 1 ) Let's start by going into your Bios and look for the memory frequency tab where you can actually change your memory speeds and select 2666Mhz like on the picture below ( Might be named different on other motherboards , look for that option on your motherboard Bios ) , i'm using as reference my Asus CH 6 Hero:

( 3 ) Once you open up that tab there should be the options to change your memory primary timings ( Cas Latency - Ras to Cas Read Delay - Rad to Cas Write Delay - Ras Pre Time - Ras Act Time ) , change them to 18-18-18-36 , see the example picture below:

( 4 ) Go to Bios DRAM voltage tab where you can change the memory voltage on your motherboard and select 1.35v , see the example picture below:

( 5 ) Go to your motherboard Bios and find your DRAM VBoot Voltage and set the same voltage that you used for your DRAM voltage 1.35v ( Motherboard and Bios dependent ) , see the example picture below:

Save those settings and reboot , you should be able to run DDR4-2666Mhz Cas 18 at those settings ( Pending motherboard , bios and hardware ) , boot into windows and enjoy the bump in performance , remember that the north bridge it's tied to the memory frequency and infinity data fabric and we are in fact overclocking all of them at the same time , memory , infinity data fabric and north bridge. If it does not boot immediately , let it run thru memory training a few times and retry again. You should run some kind of memory intensive program to test for stability like SuperPI 32m , Aidax64 and or your favorite games and / or software.

Use this memory overclocking guide as reference , you might need to adjust voltages and / or timings and Ram speeds based on your hardware , motherboard and bios. If DDR4-2666Mhz do not work on your hardware configuration try the next step below in memory frequency 2400Mhz and / or looser timings to 19-19-19-34 and so on ... Good luck with your memory overclocking adventures and please post your findings on this thread.

1. Try even numbers first when you overclock your memory , example 14-14-14 or 15-15-15 or 18-18-18 and so on ... , also give it a try at 1T first for best performance or 2T Command Rate for compatibility , 1T is always faster but 2T helps with compatibility and stabilize high Mhz.

3. Test VDDSOC voltages from 1.0v to 1.20v ( Do not go higher than 1.20v )

4. If your motherboard have it's own clock generator for BCLK overclocking ( Only found on Asus Crosshair VI Hero , ASRock Taichi , ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming and GIGABYTE GA-AX370-Gaming K7 ) , do not go pass 104.85 BCLK for memory overclocking as it will drop the speed of pci-express 3.0 to pci-express 2.0 speeds , once you start going higher and higher you start losing usb ports and things get wonky and unstable for 24/7 usage.

5. Higher Speed Mhz with tight timings ( example - DDR4-3466 ) at 14-14-14-28 ) is always better than Lower Speeds Mhz and tight timings ( example - DDR4-2666 at 12-12-12-26 ) as the data infinity fabric and north bridge benefits the most from higher Mhz. The higher the memory Clocks Speeds/Mhz the better it is for the system performance overall. So , shoot for the highest memory clocks you can get and the tight timings you can get.

Which Noctua CPU coolers are compatible with AMD AM4 (Ryzen) ? The following models include a mounting-kit for socket AM4 and are thus compatible out of the box: NH-D15 SE-AM4 m NH-U12S SE-AM4 , NH-L9x65 SE-AM4

The following models can be made compatible with the AM4 socket free of charge using the NM-AM4-UxS upgrade-kit: NH-U14S , NH-U12S , NH-U9S

The following models can be made compatible with the AM4 socket using the NM-AM4 upgrade-kit but are not eligible for Noctua‘s free mounting offer, so users have to purchase the kit at local resellers: NH-U12DO (Note that the A3 version is not compatible!) , NH-U12DX , NH-U12DX 1366 , NH-U12DX i4 , NH-U9DX i4 , NH-U9DX 1366 , NH-U9DO (Note that the A3 version is not compatible!)

All CPU Hetasinks since 2005. ( Noctua offers upgrade-kits for AMD’s Ryzen platform free of charge: Vienna, January 25th 2017 – Noctua today officially announced that it will provide users of its CPU coolers with free mounting upgrade kits for the new AM4 socket of AMD’s upcoming Ryzen architecture. The SecuFirm2™ mounting-kits are backwards compatible with most Noctua CPU coolers manufactured since 2005 and will be available via resellers and free of charge via Noctua’s website after uploading a proof of purchase.)

So what cpu and mb will you buy? Just sold my old cpu & mb and I'm thinking about 1700X (if it has just 200MHz less than 1800X, I'm not gonna spend £100 just for that) and Asus Crosshair VI (never had CF or SLI, so PCI lines will be enough)...

So what cpu and mb will you buy? Just sold my old cpu & mb and I'm thinking about 1700X (if it has just 200MHz less than 1800X, I'm not gonna spend £100 just for that) and Asus Crosshair VI (never had CF or SLI, so PCI lines will be enough)...

What can offer better motherboards over current (soon) available?

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I have pre-ordered already AMD Ryzen 7 1800X and Asus Crosshair VI Hero. I will continuously update this tread once we get more information , stay tuned.

ill be following this thread with great interest thought i might contribute a little bit in the mean time. heres a brief summary of VRM info ive figured out & come across - for any early adopters wondering wat mobo to get. caveat!!! we dont know wat components are used in the power delivery circuitry until boards are in our hands!

@ hollywood|meo , thanks a lot , this indeed was a nice contribution to the tread.

This tread is open to anyone willing to help out with information for the brand new Ryzen platform , if you find new coolers compatible with AM4 socket post away. Let's make a good , informative tread as most of us are diving in heads first without knowing the quirks and needs of Ryzen , as an enthusiast community we got to come together to help each other out.

If you need a socket AM4 compatible cheap heatsink/fan to quickly test your cpu ( and/or install your OS , get the system ready or for troubleshoot ) without having to install your complete water loop or using a case , i have found the cheapest available options , check the picture below with 4 cheap options from $9.99 w/ rebate ~ to $18.59 US Dollars , this are 100% compatible out of the box for AM4 Ryzen CPUs / Motherboards. It's always a good practice to keep a cheap H/F around as you never know when you will needed.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, managed to snag a Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 off amazon until a decision about water has been reached. Not sure why it is a special edition. It only includes mounting for AM4. Otherwise it is identical to the non SE version.

So is it just the bolt pattern that is different? My block is separate from the plate that holds down the block, it's an XSPC setup. I'm hoping I'll just be able to make my own plate and use the rest. The wife already gave me the ok to get what I want but I'm not into wasting money I don't need 2. Going to wait a few months anyway at least to see whats up with boards, ram ect.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, managed to snag a Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4 off amazon until a decision about water has been reached. Not sure why it is a special edition. It only includes mounting for AM4. Otherwise it is identical to the non SE version.

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Awesome , you went with the best air cooler , Noctua never disappoints

So is it just the bolt pattern that is different? My block is separate from the plate that holds down the block, it's an XSPC setup. I'm hoping I'll just be able to make my own plate and use the rest. The wife already gave me the ok to get what I want but I'm not into wasting money I don't need 2. Going to wait a few months anyway at least to see whats up with boards, ram ect.

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I hope you get it to work with some modding , if not there is good cheap alternative cpu water blocks around and on sale most of the time.